HARRISBURG — Three years ago, Marybeth Slike fell off her horse when participating in her first high school rodeo.
On Saturday, the Middlesex Township teenager beat 15 other young women to win barrel racing in the morning rodeo on opening day of the 98th Pennsylvania Farm Show. CHECK. The show runs through 5 p.m. Jan. 11.
“The way to win is by practicing a lot,” Marybeth said after dismounting from Bob, her 10-year-old quarter horse. “Practice makes everything better. I practice three to four times a week.”
Hosted by the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo Association and featuring 82 teenage cowboys and cowgirls, the two rodeos packed the Large Arena on Saturday. Rodeos, originally a contest to evaluate cowboys’ courage, stamina and ability, now are popular high school competitions in which horses gallop, steers run, bulls buck and the young equestrians do their best to hang on with grace and strength.
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Marybeth, a Cumberland Valley High School senior and the 2012 Pennsylvania 4-H champion pole bender and reserve barrel racer, has been riding horses most of her life.
“I started pleasure riding when I was 7,” she recalled, saying she grew up on a small farm. “I started by riding a 15-year-old paint (horse) named Dodger. He knew what he was doing, and I learned from him. I rode him until I was 13, then got Bob. I took weekly riding lessons. I also joined the Cumberland County Drill Team when I was 8.”
She said she bonded with Bob even though “he can be stubborn and have an attitude. Sometimes, he’s as moody as a 15-year-old boy!” She and Bob compete in rodeo barrel racing, speeding around barrels without knocking them over; and pole bending in which they gallop around several poles without touching them.
It’s not as easy as it looks.
“A couple weeks ago, we were practicing outside,” she said. “Bob slipped on the ice and I was thrown off. He fell too, landing on my leg. He stood up and looked at me. My leg hurt but when I got X-rays, it wasn’t broken. I wore my helmet, which saved me.”
Jen Holtry, Marybeth’s coach, called her “a natural rider.” That seemed evident from the smooth way the petite girl mounted her horse and rode with ease.
Marybeth said competing in rodeos gives her an adrenaline rush.
“When I ride a 1,200-pound horse for 16 seconds or so, I’m totally focused on the job we have to do,” she said.
The self-described tomboy prefers boots, jeans, a bling belt, dark shirt and cowgirl hat to other clothes. She said she hunts, goes four-wheeling and rides a snowmobile for fun.
She plans to major in computer information systems at Murray State University in Murray, Ky.
“Bob’s coming with me to college,” she said. “I want to be in rodeo there too.”
The rodeo also featured calf-roping, in which ropers caught a calf at a full run, dismounted and tied three of its legs together; team roping in which two equestrians galloped after a running steer, then one looped a rope around the steer’s head while the other tied its feet; bull riding in which cowboys had to hang onto a bucking bull for eight seconds; and steer wrestling in which cowboys slid off a running horse grabbed a running steer and wrestled it to the ground.
The crowd roared its approval for Mason Brehm, 17, of Jonestown, after he galloped after a steer and wrestled it to the ground.
“You have to be smooth,” said Mason, a Northern Lebanon High School senior. “The steer fought a bit but I just hung on.”
Bareback riding, in which cowboys use one hand to hang onto a furiously bucking horse who don’t want passengers, proved to be dangerous for cowboy Grayson Cole, of Schuylkill Haven. Grayson managed to hang on to a wildly jumping horse for a few seconds, then was thrown partly off and dragged around the Large Arena as the crowd gasped in horror. Finally, he landed on the dirt floor. The announcer told people he was conscious. Minutes later, two cowboys half carried Grayson out, with the young man looking tense and appearing to have an injured right leg. The crowd cheered, applauding his efforts.